Message for Sunday 9th September, 2018
Theme: Understanding and walking in the Love of God.
Topic: Qualities of Agape Love and How to walk in them
Introduction: Last week we opened this series by looking at what exactly agape love is as opposed to the sensual perspective of love. Any right thinking person hearing that message for the first time would have observed that there is a huge distinction between what is generally known as love and what God’s kind of love also known as agape love is. Indeed, the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of men. No wonder the Apostle Paul tells us in 1Cor.1:18-30 among other things that God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise so that no flesh would glory in His sight. The ways of God are indeed higher than our ways. I want you to be prepared to thoroughly renew your mind with this message on the qualities of Divine love as it is going to revolutionize your life if you will buy into it because it is not like any other message from God; it is the ultimate. Today, we shall be looking at what love is and what it is not. Then in two weeks’ time God willing, after our family Sunday, we shall be looking at How to walk in the God Kind of love. We would never be the same again.
Agape Love described in 1Cor.13:1-8: From last week’s message we saw that love was defined in 1Jn.4:8 as God. Thus every time we talk about love; the God kind of love, we are actually talking about God. When we understand this, we get to know that we are describing the nature of God when we are learning about His love.
The nature of God is a graphic description of His personality which can only fit with Agape love. Just like we see that the word of God is incorruptible, indestructible and inexhaustible, so is Agape love: it never fails – 1Cor.13:8. The following are therefore the description of love:
1. Love endures long and is Patient and kind when doing so: Many believers endure long but fail the test of patience and kindness while doing so. It is not love when one murmurs and complains while waiting on God to answer your prayer about anything you have believed Him for. The danger of murmuring and complaining while waiting on God is that you may end up making God look like He lied. The children of Israel failed to enter the Promised Land when they murmured against God ten times according to the Lord. Num.14:22-24; 1Cor.13:4 and 10:10-12.
2. Love is never envious nor boils over with jealousy: Envy happens when a person is jealous of another and because they cannot get what that other person has through God, they go out of the way to try to take what does not belong to them by foul means or any means other than God and in the process they could even try to kill the person to possess what is not theirs. When believers act this way, they are manifesting the nature of the flesh which is Satan friendly and become very destructive. The breeding ground for this kind of situation is strife. To strive is to compete and the best way to avoid this is to walk in love. Walking in love keeps us from quarrelling and competition which are all traits of our carnal natures. Those traits make people destroy each other and that is not what God wants for any of us. See 1Cor.13:4; Jas.3:13-18; 4:1-8 and Gal.5:13-17.
3. Love is not boastful or vainglorious nor does it display itself haughtily: Pride is to be conceited, arrogant and have an over bloated self-image which thrives in self-deceit. All these are descriptive of a person laden with pride. No believer starts out walking in love. The fruit of the spirit which is love is cultivated over time of consistently seeking God and learning from Him to walk in His ways which are far higher than the ways of natural man. We have to submit to the Holy Spirit to help us mortify the desires of the flesh to please God. See 1Cor.13:4; Isa.55:8-9; 1Pet.5:5-6; Rm.8:13; Col.3:5-10 and Gal.5:16.
4. Love is not rude, ill-mannered and unbecoming in actions: This kind of attitude is what makes a believer lose their saltiness. The bible says we are the salt of the earth and that if the salt loses its flavor, it is thenceforth good for nothing than to be trodden under foot of men. So when we walk in love, we are able to glorify God in our attitudes. This is what evil spirits see and honor the name of the Lord in our lives. Love actually helps to protect us as we would be able to show forth the right attitude in life and glorify God thus encouraging others to come to the Lord through our saltiness. If we fail to bear the fruit of the spirit, discerning people will not be drawn to us knowing that we are fake. Sadly, there are many hypocritical mockers hanging around in Church institutions and some are even in leadership and causing a lot of havoc because they are not salts. When they are detected, some would be for criminal reasons that would result in the Government enforcing the law against them thereby having men trample them under foot because if they were once saved, they had lost their saltiness. See 1Cor.13:5; Mt.5:13; Job 36:13-14.
5. Love; God’s love in us does not insist on its own rights or its own way: The reason for this is that it is not selfish or self-seeking; it also considers other people so that there can be God’s kind of justice in the situation. See Mic.6:6-8; Mk.12:28-31 and Gal.5:22-23. The only means by which you can do this is to crucify the flesh and walk in the spirit. See Gal.5:16.
6. Love is not touchy; fretful or resentful: Being touchy, fretful and resentful are extreme negative emotions with devastating consequences. To be touchy is to be quick to take offence. Dealing with this kind of person requires great tact. To be fretful is to be nervous and unable to relax. To be resentful is to be easily provoked to anger, to be irritable. Therefore walking in love is living an emotionally healthy lifestyle. For instance one of the reasons why we have so many cases of sexual pervasion today is resentment. What does it mean to be resentful? It means to feel bitter or indignant about someone or something. As a matter of fact, when resentment is not dealt with properly, it can result in a person harboring roots of bitterness that defile many which is why the bitter person can be instrumental in the hands of the devil to slander others and make nonsense of whatever good is happening in other people’s lives with an intent to destroy. According to the Philosophy of one of Job’s friends Elihu, resentful people are hypocritical at heart and they end up being cut off in their prime because of the bad choices they make in refusing to repent when God allows them to be afflicted to get their attention to do so. See Job 36:13-16 [NIV]; Heb.12:14-17 and Rm.1:18-31
7. Love takes no account of the evil done to it: In other words, love forgives whether the offender apologizes or not. This is where loving your enemies become very vital. As a rule, the Lord Jesus Christ caused His disciples to see that they were empowered to forgive and refuse to forgive. He told them that whoever they forgive would be forgiven by God and whoever they refuse to forgive would not be forgiven by God. You will see this rule in Jn.20:21-23 and Mk.11:24. I believe that it was the obedience to God of this rule by the Lord that we are all saved today and another example was Stephen’s obedience to this rule shortly before the salvation of Saul who became Paul and wrote 2/3rd of the New Testament. If Stephen had not forgiven those who persecuted him to death, we would never have heard of Apostle Paul and we know he would have been lost forever! I believe since we obtained mercy of God, we should also show mercy to people; it would not hurt us at all; it would make us better people. See also Mt.5:44; Lk.6:27 & 35.
8. Love does not rejoice at injustice or unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevails: So many people find pleasure in what is wrong and unrighteous which is why there is such a love for violence in the world today. We are to stand out in this world by being different; loving what God loves and hating what He hates. God hates sin and injustice and unrighteousness but loves righteousness. See 1Cor.13:6; Micah 6:8 and Heb.1:8-12.
9. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes: This is the ability to suffer for long for a good cause without weakening in resolve believing the best of every person and hoping ceaselessly to see things turn out as God has said without bothering about the passage of time. This is because it knows that with or without them, God would accomplish His purpose. See 1Cor.13:7 and Heb.12:1-3.
10. Love never fails: It never fades out and never expires nor becomes obsolete. The God kind of love is eternal; never passing away with time or use. It is destined to live as long as God in which case, it is endless love. See 1Cor.13:8; Jn.17:1-3 and 15:8-12.
We shall draw the curtain here today for want of time and space. Next, we shall be looking at how to walk in love. Believe me these truths are not carnally absorbable, but God’s grace can make it possible for us to walk in love. We shall be looking at how to engage the grace of God to walk in love in our subsequent message. Meanwhile if you are yet to belong to God’s family, you cannot walk in love because you need divine nature to do so. If you want divine nature, you can have it right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be saved:
Heavenly Father,
Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.
Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email: jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.
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